Quality New Year's Eve shows at O.C. venues are rarely in great abundance. Relevant ones are even scarcer. Until this past weekend, the choices have either been pretty mellow (Donavon Frankenreiter at the Coach House) or retro (Psychedelic Furs at the Mouse House, lots of tribute bands at the fairgrounds).

So it's gratifying to announce a gig with more potential to actually mean something: Kendrick Lamar, the fast-progressing L.A. rapper, has been booked to boot out the old year and ring in the next one this Dec. 31 at the Observatory.

It's taken the better part of this year for the teen prodigy, now 25, to really show what he's capable of, at least on large stages; his Coachella sets weren't worth getting out of line for water, but he connected considerably stronger at Rock the Bells a few months later.

Now, of course, he's cresting atop an instantaneous wave of widespread acclaim for his proper debut, the gangland tour good kid, m.A.A.d. city, his highly compelling snapshot of real life in gangland that's been praised in seminal-on-arrival terms. For its stylistic advances and high-wire balancing act of raw indulgence and thoughtful reflections, among other reasons, it's must-hear material.

Not that I'd necessarily go to Santa Ana on New Year's Eve expecting a full-length reenactment of it. But it should be a killer night for hip-hop heads all the same. And what better time to have a special guest or three, no?

Tickets, $59.75, are on sale now. VIP access costs $100. Another $50 will score you an Open Bar ticket.

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